Comments by Borisgfo from Greece on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 23:31 - IP Logged. Student learning goals alongside the ausVELS and PAT (Progressive Assessment Tests) for planning and assessment. In reading this term we will continue to focus on making connections through questioning, predicting, summarising and inferring meaning from a wide range of texts.

• Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas 5th
• Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas Examples
• Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas For Beginners

Literacy is not something that just happens. One does not wake up literate nor does one become literate in the same way that one learns to walk. It is not intuited from the environment nor is it simply a matter of physical maturation. Literacy learning requires instruction and practice, and this learning occurs across discrete stages. The following notes explore the five stages of reading development as proposed by Maryanne Wolf (2008) in her book Proust and the squid: the story and science of the reading brain. These five stages are:

• the emerging pre-reader (typically between 6 months to 6 years old);

• the novice reader (typically between 6 to 7 years old);

• the decoding reader (typically between 7 - 9 years old);

• the fluent, comprehending reader (typically between 9 - 15 years old); and

• the expert reader (typically from 16 years and older).

Please explore, and also visit the Stages of Literacy Development page for a more detailed discussion. Before we begin with the stages, there are two preliminary notes to make.

Preliminary Note #1: “As every teacher knows, emotional engagement is the tipping point between leaping into the reading life ... An enormously important influence on the development of comprehension in childhood is what happens after we remember, predict, and infer: we feel, we identify, and in the the process we understand more fully and can’t wait to turn the page. The child ... often needs heartfelt encouragement from teachers, tutors and parents to make a stab at more difficult reading material.” (Wolf, 2008, p 132)

“Without an affective investment and commitment, our words become unintelligible and empty; with that commitment words begin to show other manners of signification beyond the realm of literal meaning and correspondence.” (Krebs, 2010, pg 138)

Preliminary Note #2: Across this lengthy period of development, leaners are required to consolidate certain skills only to encounter new challenges. The one rule that applies equally is as follows: “Experts [agree] that readers, no matter which reading philosophy is followed, have to practice, practice, practice.” (You Need /r/ /ee/ /d/ to Read). There is no better way to exemplify this than in the following anecdote from Maryanne Wolf's book Proust and the squid: the story and science of the reading brain.

“I do not remember that first moment of knowing I could read, but some of my memories - of a tiny, two-room school with eight grades and two teachers - evokes many pieces of what the language expect Anthony Bashir calls the ‘natural history’ of the reading life. The natural history of reading begins with simple exercises, practices, and accuracy, and ends, if one is lucky, with the tools and the capacity to ‘leap into transcendence.’” (Wolf, 2008, p 109)

“My other vivid memory of those days centres on Sister Salesia, trying her utmost to teach the children who couldn’t seem to learn to read. I watched her listening patiently to these children’s torturous attempts during the school day, and then all over again after school, one child at a time ... My best friend, Jim, ... looked like a pale version of himself, haltingly coming up with the letter sounds Sister Salesia asked for. It turned my world topsy-turvy to see this indomitable boy so unsure of himself. For at least a year they worked quietly and determinedly after school ended.” (Wolf, 2008, p 111 - 112)

A Research-Based Approach to Learning to Spell

New York Academy is implementing a research-based, thinking approach to learning to spell. Think of it as “Latin light.”

Students learn to spell not by memorizing, but by learning the sounds, spelling patterns and rules of the English Language.

Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas 5th

Students progress from an Emergent level (sounds of the language) to a Letter Name Alphabetic level (sounds matched to letters) to a Within Words Patterns level (basic spelling patterns of vowels and consonants) to a Syllables and Affix level (building blocks of words) to a Roots and Bases level (meanings of syllables and words). This program empowers teachers to differentiate to meet the individual needs of each child based on diagnostic assessments. There are 250 lessons across the five levels, which generally span grades Kindergarten through Grade 8.

Each lesson is a “word sort,” where students compare & contrast sounds, patterns, and words, then place them accordingly in categories per the spelling patterns made explicit.

Teachers guide and coach students to exercise analytical thinking skills to master the spelling patterns and rules of the English language.

Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas Examples

The following are a few samples of Words Their Way Word Sorts:

Ausvels Progressive Spelling Test Effective Curriculum Ideas For Beginners

“Kindergarten” Word Sort – Emergent Level

“Grade 2” Word Sort – Within Word Patterns Level

“Grade 6” Word Sort – Roots and Bases Level

Once the students learn the word patterns and spelling rules through the word sorts, they are given an immediate opportunity to apply their learning to reading (decoding) and writing (encoding).

Students at New York Academy are analytical thinking spellers!